From Sushma Swaraj to Sheila Dikshit to Atishi: The legacy of Delhi’s women chief ministers

NEW DELHI: Atishi is all set to become the third woman chief minister of Delhi. Before her, Sushma Swaraj of BJP and Sheila Dikshit of Congress held the office. While Swaraj was CM for just 52 days – from 13 Oct, 1998, to Dec 3 – Dikshit, who was the longest serving CM of Delhi, remained at the helm for three consecutive terms from Dec 1998 to Dec 2013.
Of the three women CMs, Atishi will be the youngest – while Dikshit was 60 when she was handed over the responsibility to run the city, Sushma was 46 when she took over from Saheb Singh Verma.She, however, will be the second youngest chief minister after Brahm Prakash, Delhi first CM, who was just shy of 34.

Both Swaraj and Dikshit were known as able administrators. Though Swaraj's stint was very short, her colleagues in Delhi assembly recall that she had become a likeable face among the masses. Swaraj led BJP to assembly polls within days of her taking over as CM but the party faced a massive defeat due to the spiralling prices of onion, which her govt failed to check. She was serving as a minister in Centre when she was sent to Delhi. After BJP's defeat, Swaraj shifted her focus back to national politics and held several important portfolios during the Vajpayee govt in 1999 to 2004 and in Modi dispensation in 2014-19.
Dikshit too became extremely popular, especially among the youth and women. She was accessible not only to the legislators of her party and opposition alike, but also for the common people of Delhi. Her popularity, administrative skills and vision for Delhi won her the 2003 and 2008 assembly polls.
Allegations of corruption against Congress during 2010 Commonwealth Games and Nirbhaya gangrape case in Dec 2012 led to the downfall for her govt. Not only did Congress lose the 2013 assembly polls, Dikshit also lost her constituency by a huge margin against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
Atishi became a close confidante to both Kejriwal and former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia over the last few years. She held the most number of portfolios in the Delhi cabinet and has been vocal on political as well as governance issues.